Captain Underpants

For those that remember the Captain Underpants series from their elementary school days, probably don’t remember that the comical books were based in Piqua, Ohio. The two main characters, George Beard and Harold Hutchins, illustrated their comics in a treehouse at their Piqua residence. While there aren’t any factual Piqua landmarks mentioned in the series, they do reference the fictional “Piqua Pizza Palace” and “Piqua State Penitentiary”.

According to author Dav Pilkey Jr., Piqua was chosen as the series’ location because the city hosted an annual underwear festival. It was also home to 16 different underwear manufacturers which led to the creation of the city’s nickname, “the Underwear Capital of America”. Dav also grew up in Elyria, Ohio and later attended Kent State University.